UCONN FOOTBALL: Huskies face tall order against Louisville

CHIP MALAFRONTE, Journal Register News Service

Published 12:00 am, Friday, October 22, 2010

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

UConn head football coach Randy Edsall had a busy bye week, losing two players from the program, including his starting quarterback. Still he remains confident of his team's chances against Louisville Saturday. (AP) less

UConn head football coach Randy Edsall had a busy bye week, losing two players from the program, including his starting quarterback. Still he remains confident of his team's chances against Louisville Saturday. ... more

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

UCONN FOOTBALL: Huskies face tall order against Louisville

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

STORRS -- So much for coming off the bye week relaxed and rested of mind and body.

The bumps and bruises of the season's first six weeks may have healed in the UConn football team's week off. But the Huskies returned to practice to upheaval.

In the days of preparation leading into Saturday's game at Louisville (3:30 p.m., ESPNU), UConn had a starting offensive lineman abruptly leave the team a day before the starting quarterback was suspended and ultimately kicked off the team for failing his second drug test in two months.

UConn (3-3, 0-1 Big East), in danger of falling out of contention in the conference after a loss at Rutgers two weeks ago, already had its hands full in attempting to right the ship.

Now, it must do so without Ansonia's Erik Kuraczea and Cody Endres for the rest of the season while redshirt freshman Michael Box makes his first collegiate start Saturday under center in what could amount to a league elimination game for the Huskies.

It may be a tall order, but coach Randy Edsall doesn't think his team will be negatively affected by the recent turmoil.

"It's already behind them," Edsall said. "We had a team meeting (Wednesday) and addressed that. You address those situations and you move forward. You worry about the present. You don't worry about the past. That's what we're doing. A lot of time you're better off. You get addition by subtraction."

The season began with lofty expectations for UConn. Road losses to Michigan, Temple and Rutgers have made the Huskies look mediocre at the midway point.

Still, the ultimate goal of winning the Big East remains alive and UConn controls its own fate. It's not out of the realm of possibility in the players' minds, and begins with the improved Cardinals (3-3, 0-1).

"It sucks to be 3-3," UConn center Moe Petrus said. "But it's not indicative of what kind of a team we have. It's time to knuckle up and get down to business."

Box's ability as a quarterback will be on display for the first time. Edsall proclaimed he has full confidence in the second-year freshman, and pointed to the fact that Box worked his way from third string to second string earlier this fall by showing an ability to move the offense during practice.

Tailback Jordan Todman, the nation's third-leading rusher at 152 yards per game, will certainly help ease the burden on Box. The loss of Kuraczea should be covered by Mathieu Olivier. Not as talented as Kuraczea, Olivier still did the job in four starts during Kuraczea's absence.

The expected return of fullback Anthony Sherman, cleared after suffering a hamstring injury in the loss to Rutgers, will help the run game.

"He just has to go out and play the game," Edsall said. "He just has to be relaxed and do the things that he's worked on in practice. Just do his job -- he doesn't have to do anything other than execute the things we're going to ask him to execute. He has the support and confidence of all the players and all the coaches. We just have to make sure we do our part as coaches to get him into a rhythm and get him to gain some confidence as we start the ball game and as we continue throughout the game."

UConn's main challenge will be on defense, where a penchant for allowing the big plays, particularly in the fourth quarter, has haunted the Huskies dating back to last season.

Louisville tailback Bilal Powell is a bruising runner at 6 feet, 215 pounds, and is just behind Todman at 149 yards rushing per game. In focusing on stopping Powell, the Huskies must be wary of quarterback Adam Froman, who has taken advantage of teams stacking up against Powell to throw for 226 yards per game and 10 touchdowns to just four interceptions.

"We can eliminate the big plays simply by having everyone doing their job," Edsall said.